Thursday, February 10, 2011

Friday 2/11/2011

Well, I didn't have a chance to do an entry this morning cause' I had to go to the main branch instead of the east valley branch to pick up a truck.  That kinda threw off the entire morning.  Not in a bad way, I got up later cause' I knew I wouldn't be able to get in to the main branch as early as I can at the other one.  I have cause to my branch, they wanted their keys back to the main branch after I was transferred, which is no biggies to me.

I just got my butt kicked.  Waylaid, left on the side of the road to die and feeling it.

No, not by any human.  By a machine.  This particular machine has steps on it and the steps revolve around on a track much like and elevator where the steps appear at the top and disappear at the bottom.  That would be called a stair stepping machine.  Yes, I joined the gym yesterday.  $28 per month.  It was going to be $24 per month, but you only get that by signing an 11 month contract.  No thanks.  The man behind the counter asked my name, he said he was ready for me.  In other words, the dude I had talked to about this on the phone previously had let everyone know that I might be coming in and this is the details of the plan.

There IS no plan.  Just pay the $28 per month.  I HATE contracts for a gym.

So, that done, I didn't have workout clothes with me yesterday. I got home from work today - I plan on stopping by the gym on the days I am going to work out on the way home from work, but today I came home from work from downtown Phoenix, not the east valley as I normally do - got my shorts and t shirt on and the ONLY goal I had was to spend 30 quality minutes on that stair step on a Super Fat Burn setting.  It's also a GREAT cardio workout.

I'm toast for the rest of the day, thank you.  I haven't been in a gym in ages, forgot what it's like in there.  I was eyeing the free weights, but as I said, that machine kicked my @$$ today.  It may do that for a while, too.  My priority is cardio and fat burn on that stairstepper.  My goal is eventually 45 minutes on that thing at the highest level, as I used to be able to do.  I really thought, for not having had been on one in over 7 years, that I did pretty well considering.  But, when you can crank that thing up and stay on it for a while, you burn fat like crazy and you really start feeling better.  Still, 2 and a half miles of climbing stairs?  Not bad for a 47 year old man that hasn't worked out like that in quite a long time.

I do, however, imagine I will start feeling better just doing this.  Small steps.  Just take small steps.  I am motivated, but, I know what going to the gym 5 days a week can eventually do to you: cause you to get burnout.

Anyway, I gave the female tenant a rent notice the other day, I got a reply from her yesterday.  She quit going to school, meaning she also stopped receiving that almost-$1,400 per month stipend from the military.  I dunno, if I were in her situation, I would go to school just to get the money if nothing else.  She IS working, just not getting that extra money.  She said she would give me "as much as she can afford" today.  Okay, I'm looking for a minimum of $250 today.  I am guessing I will get $200.  I will NOT be happy with ANYTHING less.  I like to mentally prepare myself in advance for such things so that I don't get upset and start saying things I might regret later.

I gotta tell ya, if I could go to school for free right now and get that kind of money, I would go!!  My first quest would be paralegal, after that a lawyer and the bar exam.

One can dream.  Speaking of money, I believe I am going to set a maximum low that this house can go in terms of market value.  If it hits that low, I'm outta here.  Short sale it, live with the fact that I will either have to live in a rental property for years or buy an old mobile, fix it up and live in that for years, but to sit here and continue to watch housing values plummet, month after month is getting disheartening.  At this rate, whenever the market does come back up - and I am still hearing predictions of 2015, four YEARS from now, it might be decades before the house is even worth what I paid for it.

Direct Deposit. Took the plunge.  Went to the bank that I wanted to have it done it - my account balance there was at zero.  I haven't been using it, but I have wanted to switch over and get rid of the other bank, anyway.  The other bank - Compass Bank - is the one where I have been quite abused, verbally, by management.

So, I go in there, but I didn't want to do the direct deposit thing, just deposit a check and get some money going in there.  A manager comes up to me and asks me if I like Kathy.  Well, I don't hate her, that's for sure!  I walked in there behind another guy - a man dressed to the 9's in pin-stripe suit, tie, white shirt, all that good stuff.  Well, we both stopped at the desk to fill out the info.  He was taking his time, I was done quickly.  I have been passed by people that either didn't need to fill out anything or did it faster than me in the past and I didn't think anything of them passing me in line. So, I passed him by.  He was done a couple of minutes later, but, I was still waiting.

I could feel the glares on my back.  When I was finally called up, I deferred to the man behind me, who gave me a look, passed by me and went up to the window.  Whatever, I just let it go.  15 seconds lady, a lady walks up, grabs me by the hands, asks me about Kathy and being a real gentleman.  Lol, I just told her that guy was here before me, I let him go first.  I told her I was interested in direct deposit, did she have any info on that?  Oh, yes, let's go over here.  We went to her cubicle, I sat down, gave her my ID and the check and deposit slip, she fingered a person to come over, that person was there in  a few seconds, took that stuff, made the deposit and she started in on the direct deposit.

It's done.  I figure it to start next paycheck since it's 2 weeks away, if my company really wants this stuff done that badly, they should hopefully be able to get this done quickly.

Fast forward to Compass Bank.  I was there today making my final deposit.  I haven't deposited one of my paychecks at Chase, didn't want a delay on it in case there is one.  I was at the desk to fill out the slip, a lady walks up to me and asks me to come into her office. ???? Second time in 2 days?  She was training a new employee, turns out, guess I looked like a good guinea pig.  We talked about everything under the sun while she updated my information, had the new guy take my check to the teller area and do the deposit, but I didn't tell her about my extremely negative experiences with management at a different location.  I also didn't bother to tell her that I was planning on coming in, removing all my cash and closing the account.  I didn't feel like ruining the mood of the moment.

Well, it's late for me and I'm - outta here.

Later.

ben

Thursday 2/10/2011

Thursday

Not much to say today, mainly cause' I don't have a lot of time right now. 

I was "forced" to give the remaining female tenant a notice last night. She went on vacation at Christmas, spent her rent money on that and is behind - WELL behind - in her rent. She has been avoiding me, coming home after I go to bed because she knows I will stop her on her way in and start a discussion about money.

Well, since that's the case, I left her a rent due notice. Nothing official or for the courts, just a semi-friendly notice that if she doesn't either pay the rent or discuss this situation with me, I would have no choice but to start eviction proceedings. 

I will give her 2 days to either write me something back, give me some rent money or discuss this face to face. If nothing happens, it's the 5-day pay or quit notice and onto the rest of it. I hardly have sympathy for a person that decides a vacation and blowing ALL of your money on it, leaving nothing for the necessities of life left over is something even remotely good to do.

Oh, wait a minute, she still has her truck, so she must be making THAT payment. She has her cell phone, I doubt she's let that be turned off. She's been pretty good about rent until this vacation deal. 

Whatever, it's life with tenants. The "kid" tenant took my statements which were beyond being just hints and started to deal with the dishes. Except, he's putting pans into the dishwasher. Instead of cleaning them with some dish soap and putting them away, a process that would take all of a couple of minutes, he's decided that throwing them into the dishwasher is a good idea.

NOT. I'll be having yet another discussion with him about that today. I don't PUT pots and pans into the dishwasher. They take up too much space in there and basically is a waste of energy to wash them. You hand wash those things, dry them and put them away. 

There's an old mobile up for sale a block away. It's in good condition and is being sold by owner. There IS no bank financing for such things at this point, banks aren't financing stuff like that right now. I have more than half a mind to inquire about that, what the terms are and go ahead and short-sale my house, as I am starting to get sick of dealing with people and their BS. Having to chase people down for rent, having to deal with people making noise at night, having to deal with people who don't want to do their dishes, don't want to help clean the bathroom, on and on and on. 

That or take up my quest to find a second, part time job, or find a job that gives me 40 hours plus some OT. I could get rid of 2 of these people, rent out 2 rooms to one person for a little more money, find a good tenant and not have to deal with all of this. 

I dunno, but, my time's up for today.

ben

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